I thought you enrolled with an insurance company, and if you don't pay, they drop you, then you pay the tax penalty; unless you're really poor, then you're exempt from having to purchase it but probably qualify for Medicare anyways.

The plan I have now will temporarily suspend coverage for nonpayment but still bill you. Once you pay they reinstate coverage retroactively. They do have an excuse for billing you forever. You are fined taxed for periods when you aren't covered. Paying for a past month when you know you have no claims could end up cutting your taxes.

I don't know what happens if I just blow them off and don't pay for a year or two. Do they keep billing me, sue to collect, and trash my credit? Do they give up after a few months and retroactively cancel? The subject of this story probably doesn't know either.

If this is true, I can see many people having a legitimate complaint with this. My current plan was cancelled because per my insurance company it was non-compliant. OK fine, I had to find new coverage, I put off doing anything about because I was busy, well low and behold in late December I received a heck of a deal in the mail from an old insurer, I had shopped through the marketplace and not found any deal this good. Had I signed up I would have had to cancel to take this offer, if it took more than one or 2 phone calls to cancel I would have been pissed.

It's funny when The Daily Mail comments are flooded with US Free Republic fruitcakes, and suddenly the regular UK derp-a-herps there find themselves the sensible logical side of the argument, red arrowing the Americans.

I thought you enrolled with an insurance company, and if you don't pay, they drop you, then you pay the tax penalty; unless you're really poor, then you're exempt from having to purchase it but probably qualify for Medicare anyways.

Isn't it ironic that they're trying to paint ACA as single payer and go ZOMG COMMUNIZMZ...when single-payer would probably be preferred?

Bungles:It's funny when The Daily Mail comments are flooded with US Free Republic fruitcakes, and suddenly the regular UK derp-a-herps there find themselves the sensible logical side of the argument, red arrowing the Americans.

Heh, clicked on the article after you mentioned that. Kinda sad, actually. And funny.

silverjets:Finally, Ms Hill drove to her insurance company's head quarter in Kansas City, 100 miles from her home, and they were able to help her cancel her 'Obamacare' plan.

So basically the phone operators at her insurance company didn't know squat and kept passing her back and forth.

That, or it could be one of the those "annoy the customer so much they give up on canceling" scam/strategies.

I thought you enrolled with an insurance company, and if you don't pay, they drop you, then you pay the tax penalty; unless you're really poor, then you're exempt from having to purchase it but probably qualify for Medicare anyways.

Isn't it ironic that they're trying to paint ACA as single payer and go ZOMG COMMUNIZMZ...when single-payer would probably be preferred?

Articles like this are an excellent endorsement for a single payer system. If people aren't bright enough to sign up for or cancel their health insurance, let's remove that obstacle.

So you signed up for a service with a private company and you want to cancel it. Instead of going to the private company and working it out with them, you complain about the website that just showed you what plan you could by and took your information to expedite the process? Ok...yep, totally Obama's fault.

Terlis:So you signed up for a service with a private company and you want to cancel it. Instead of going to the private company and working it out with them, you complain about the website that just showed you what plan you could by and took your information to expedite the process? Ok...yep, totally Obama's fault.

FTFA:'I thought it would be fairly simple, I called my insurance provider and they informed me they couldn't cancel my federal exchange policy and that I would have to do that through the exchange,'

Ms Hill was told by an ObamaCare operator that she needed to call her insurance company, who passed her back to the Federal Exchange.

Ms Hill claims the terminate button on Obamacare's website did not work, and that she spent 'several hours a day' on hold with the Health Insurance Marketplace.

It's Obama's law, he fought for it, got it, signed it, and has touted it ever since. You can try to blame-shift and deny the obvious, but nobody's buying it.

jjorsett:Funny how when capitalists team up with government to force people to buy their products, everything goes to shiat, huh?

I know! It's absolutely crazy. I remember when health insurance companies were one of the three most respected businesses in the United States, with approval ratings a high, or higher than, used car salesmen and divorce lawyers.

Begoggle:6 whole weeks, what a nightmare for you./Condescending-Wonka.jpg

//Try dealing with regular insurance and let us know how successful you are.

Require voters to go get a photo ID, that's the equivalent of the Bataan Death March. Make it a six-week ordeal culminating in a 100-mile drive to cancel a simple insurance policy, and no biggie. The left really defines situational ethics.

You know I don't see any outrage from Fox (The Mail is owned by Fox and they had this same story running on FoxNews earlier) that with an employer plan they generally won't let you make changes (e.g. drop your coverage) unless there's a "qualifying event". So if I decide I don't want to pay the premium for my family anymore I have to wait until "open enrollment" until I can.

cfreak:You know I don't see any outrage from Fox (The Mail is owned by Fox and they had this same story running on FoxNews earlier) that with an employer plan they generally won't let you make changes (e.g. drop your coverage) unless there's a "qualifying event". So if I decide I don't want to pay the premium for my family anymore I have to wait until "open enrollment" until I can.

Yes, but that's totally different because free enterprise, and capitalism, and reasons.

The affordable care act is the worse thing ever, with the exception of the IRS scandal, which is worse, and Benghazi, which is much worse.

And also possibly that one thing that Hillary Clinton did that one time with some folders or Vince Foster, which might be even worse depending on the polls in two years and six months.

The Larch:cfreak: You know I don't see any outrage from Fox (The Mail is owned by Fox and they had this same story running on FoxNews earlier) that with an employer plan they generally won't let you make changes (e.g. drop your coverage) unless there's a "qualifying event". So if I decide I don't want to pay the premium for my family anymore I have to wait until "open enrollment" until I can.

Yes, but that's totally different because free enterprise, and capitalism, and reasons.

The affordable care act is the worse thing ever, with the exception of the IRS scandal, which is worse, and Benghazi, which is much worse.

And also possibly that one thing that Hillary Clinton did that one time with some folders or Vince Foster, which might be even worse depending on the polls in two years and six months.

So true. The ACA is a conservative / corporate wet dream but a damn democrat got it passed and they can't stand it.

If you don't officially cancel the old coverage you can't sign up for another plan. It can take months before an insurance company drops you for non-payment.

Well, that doesn't sound like the efficiency I'm promised by capitalism.

Funny how when capitalists team up with government to force people to buy their products, everything goes to shiat, huh?

I could be wrong, but I think the delay with dropping coverage is a result of regulation to prevent insurance companies from screwing people who make a late payment.

That may be true, but that doesn't mean you can't enroll in another plan. This kind of thing happens ALL THE TIME. People get laid off, go on COBRA under their old employer plan and pay premiums directly. They get a new job and sign up for benefits with the new company. No problem. If the subscriber *does* happen to get some sort of service with their old insurance card after they've begun coverage under the new plan (but before the old plan officially cancelled them due to non-payment), guess what happens? The old company goes after the individual to be reimbursed and the individual can submit a claim against their new insurance. Is it a hassle? Perhaps, but as the individual making the decision about when you begin a new plan, you should know which insurance to tell your healthcare provider to bill.

jjorsett:Terlis: So you signed up for a service with a private company and you want to cancel it. Instead of going to the private company and working it out with them, you complain about the website that just showed you what plan you could by and took your information to expedite the process? Ok...yep, totally Obama's fault.

FTFA:'I thought it would be fairly simple, I called my insurance provider and they informed me they couldn't cancel my federal exchange policy and that I would have to do that through the exchange,'

Ms Hill was told by an ObamaCare operator that she needed to call her insurance company, who passed her back to the Federal Exchange.

Ms Hill claims the terminate button on Obamacare's website did not work, and that she spent 'several hours a day' on hold with the Health Insurance Marketplace.

It's Obama's law, he fought for it, got it, signed it, and has touted it ever since. You can try to blame-shift and deny the obvious, but nobody's buying it.

If she drove 100 miles to the INSURANCE PROVIDER and was able to get it cancelled, the problem was with the farking people working at the insurance provider who talked to her on the phone. If the provider could not cancel the plan, it wouldn't matter where she was. This story is farking bullshiat.

I thought you enrolled with an insurance company, and if you don't pay, they drop you, then you pay the tax penalty; unless you're really poor, then you're exempt from having to purchase it but probably qualify for Medicare anyways.

Good luck trying to do anything with it or not with it.

crab66:Surely contacting the private company that sold you the insurance is out of the question.

Probably never happened anyway. Just more tabloid garbage for blogs and chain emails to keep the racist hate flowing.

Am curious how many people like you have actually tried dealing with this particular system in any capacity. The entire thing is one big responsibility shrug fest. Live help can't help you with anything other than good conversation, phone help directs you to mail in things and though you have a deliver receipt they tell you so sorry too bad, call this number. You call that other number and you get another clueless dipshiat.

So it runs exactly like all government agencies. Overpaid assholes that do the least amount of work to keep from getting let go or just bored enough to do what they can to fark with you.